Decorticating machine



April-10,1928. 1 .1,665,911

A F.MlcHoTTE- A DECORTICATING MACHINE FiledApil 264. 1927 4 sheets-sheet 1 April 1o, 192s. l 1,665,971

F. MlcHo'rTE DECORTICATINGl MACHINE Filed April 26. 1927 l 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 H90? jgf Ema/wm Amino, 192s. 1,665,971

F. lMICHOTTE DECORTICATING MACHINE Filed April 26, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 April 10, 1928. 1,665,971

F. MlcHoTTE f DECORTICATING MACHINE Filed April 26. 1927 4 ShetS-Shee'!I 4 I.' Mic/wiz? j ma. .y g. E

G/bbowmg- Paternal-:ld Apr. 10, 1.928. n i

, UMTE'D .insegni .EELICIEN MIoHo'rrE, or rausnehmen,assrenoe, BYMESNE Assleniuiifnrs, To;

" roimmlolv oF yI.oursnelwi..'

.RAMIE'CORPORATIQN or AMERICAQINQ, or NEW ORLEANS, LoU1s1ANA,?coR- 'l 'DECORTIGATING Machine.

.Application filea'Aprnze, 1927. serial No.1s6g`7o7. i

The present `invention relates to improve- A ments in decorticating machines, and has 'for crushing, beating andscraping of thestlalks NX providing a continuously operating machine for subjecting the stalks or leaves inone passage through the machine to the three.

fold action ofcrushing, beating-and scrap.-

' ing the saine, and to achieve these-several results entirely automatically. Y p 'A further object of the invention is to provide animprov'ed beater construction, 'which Will eliminate in a large measure the air cur rents, which, heretofore, have had a tendenc y to cause winding of thevmaterlal about the rollers Vor beaters.

'A still-furtherlobject'of the invention `is 1 to construct the beaters and Scrapers of such shape and in small sections, and to mount the Vsame loosely whereby ythey will break and scrape stalks of alll woody substance without breaking the fiber', which is scraped clean by thejbeve'led edgesot' these small l beaters.

4rVlfith the foregoing and other objectsin view, the invention will be morefi'ully de# scribed hereinafter7 and will be lmore par-` ticularly v pointed Ou't'in the claims append- 1n'thedrawings, wherein like symbols re,-

out Vthe several views,

iter to like or corresponding parts' throughy c y v 4with the ridgeor s'crapingfedge20a alongA Figure'l is a side elevation of an improvedV decorticating machineconstructed 1n accordx Y l v y Y wardly from one face of the bar to thekr'azor Y 'The beater drum 'isdisposed' opposit'efa lance 4with the present invention.'` y

Figure 2 is an end elevation of th 'as' seenffrom the right of Figure 1'. -A-Figurel?, is an opposite end view with` the table cuton the' line indicated in* Fig# iurelf'- f e Vsame Figure 4 is a verticalsection takenfon' 'the linet-lin Figure 31 i vf-"Figure v5 is a perspective view of Vone of fr: 'the beater elements. I Y

Figure '6 is across ,section taken on theY "linea6--b` in Figure 5, and Vshown on 'an en l'lai-ged scale, 1 Y

:Figure 7 is a transverse section similar tozFigure fhut of aslightinodication, Aand Figure 8V is ia fragmentary'.elevation Vof a slight modifie'ation' showingian adjustableV bearing.A f

`Referring more particularly'vto theldrawings 8 designates acrpulfley'V or fbelt 'wheel adapted to be driven. froml an appropriate..

source of power. This* beltzwheel is mounted on a shatt) gournaled-in' ap'p'ropriate`.bear

machine.

composed ot the twoheads 12 and .'13 andthe bars 14 which connect-these heads. Theends` of the bars, asfsh'own in Figure 1,V are Vfitted into the lsockets `15 made in the heads, such ends being secured in 'place by vthe set screivs drum heads.V

er members or elements, as vshown in Figures Between 'the' Sid@ i' f1'21mes,1tlii sliafxg carries the beater drum or cylinder,

16 accessible to a screw'. driver, or'otherim'f` plementj frein the"peripheralV edges of thefv 19.. 'The eyes 'arel at.V substantially `right 75' angles Vto the longitudinal axis oi the bar 19; yth'efaxesofthe eyes varecoincident and they are arranged to be pivotally hungfupon therods lll. 'lhe beater bar y19it'self may` lbe' ofthe cross sectional construction, Shown in Figure6,.in which vthefree or active porftionof the bar is, pointed orsliar'penedas indicated at 20.." Inv formingthis construcnon uw beveled 0.1 diagonal faces' eiland 2a are.formed'converging to theridgel 2O.v `A l modified construction ofl beater bar is showinv in Figure 7 fin which'thebar l19El is formed one'face thereotf.there being'a transverse 'Y :diagonal lower face QSL'e'Xtenfdingy downf "edge 2042 vbeater or breastplateQl4 appropriately supi;

ported in the side -frames lOand 11 and hay.

m0"anintermediate. arcuatei' ortion s aced `from the beater drum, rbut formed substan-l.

.tially on `the same arc therewith. The up- 'per' terminal portion 25 offthe'breast'plate 24 is curved outwardly from the beater drum rhejioeefedge eriofthe breast-planea' isfbent 'dowifi's'ubstantially verticallyf'and l awayA from the drum in position to permit the treated plant or stalks to fall upon a y conveyor belt 28 disposed about the rollers roller 39 is disposed directly beneath the beater drum, although to one side of thc vertical line passing through the center of the drum shaft 9. v

The upper roller 30 constitutes a drive roller andnto effect goed tractive engagement abelt tightener roller 31 is preferably arranged to bear upon the belt 28, this tightv ener roller 31 possessing sufficient weight to take up the slack in the belt 28 and'cause it to. grip tightly about the drive roller 30. The end trunnions 32 of the tightener roller 31 are disposed to slide freely in the slots of guide arms 33, which arms are suspended from rods 34 on the framework projecting through the slots of said guide arms. By reason of this construction the weighted rollers 31 are permitted both a lateral swinging and vertically sliding movement compensating Vfor any inequalities in the belt rollers and to permit the roller 3l`to ride o ver the falling stalks. V The shaft 35Yfor the drive roller 30 is extended to one side of the side frame 11, as shown in, Figures 2 and 3, where it is provided with a sprocket wheel 36 designed to be engaged by a chain 37. This chain engages at its opposite end a further sprocket wheel 38 mounted upon a stub shaft 40 appropriately mounted inthe side frame 11. Such stub shaft carries the pinion 41 meshingat one side with the pinion 42 on the shaft 43 of the hollow roller 26, and at its other side with the idler pinion 44 upon the stub shaft45 mounted in appropriate bearings in the side frame 11. The last mentioned pinion 45 meshes with a pinion 46 upon the shaft 47 of a second hollow roller 48, which is mounted upon the lhollow roller 26. As shown to advantage in Figure 4 the diameter of the upper roller 48 exceeds greatly that of the lower roller 26. The trunnions of the lower roller are preferably fixed, while those of vthe upper roller are mounted in slidable guides 49 movable -vertically in the guideways 50 provided in the side frames. Coil springs 51 are arranged to exert pressure upon the guide blocks 49 and trunnions of the roller 48, and the tension of these coil springs are regulated by i the set screws 52, which engage threadedly through the cross bars 53 disposed above and bridging the upper ends of the guideways. s

These cross bars may be held in place by the bolts 54, the heads of which are .disposed within the cut out portions 55 of the framework, and the nut ends of-which are disposed upwardly and above the bars 53. The

lock nuts 56 are also preferably associated `with the set screws 52 in order tohold the mounted on one end-ef a stub shaft 59 carried diagonally and held to the outside of the side frame 1() as by the U-sliaped metal straps or clip (i0, shown best in Figure 1. rl`he higher end of the stub shaft 59 carries the beveled pinion 61 in mesh. with a large bevel gear 62 fixed to thev shaft 43 of the lower, hollow, smaller roller 26. I

The receii'fing table is indicated at b3, and

is shown as supported at its oppositeedges by the angle irons 64 bolted or otherwise secured between the frames.y

ln the use of the device, the stalks. of the plants are placedy upon lthe table 63 and ad vanced endwise between the rollers 26 and 48, both` of which rollers are preferably of polished metal. These rollers serve as feed rol'lers for the machine as they draw inthe stalks whichy are pinched in the biglit between the two rollers, this 'bight being regulated by the weight of the upperllargerroller 48 and the degree of the spring pressure imf posed, which spring prcsure canl be regulated as aforesaid. rl`he rolls 2G and'48 subserve the further function of acting to crush the stalksv and to break `and crack the hardl roe duce to a minimum the unhackled ends of the. the stalks.

kThe rollers automatically pass the crushed stalks to the beat-er and to the breast or beater plate 24, which later is preferably of highly polished bronze. The lip 25 ofthis breast plate is conductive to the receiving crushed sta'lksbetween the beater pla-te 24 andvbeater d'rum and the lip 25 scrapes vthe lower drum 2G but further prevents any of the'material from clinging to, or winding about this roller.

During the interval that the stalks are passing between the beater drum and the breast plate 24, the beaters 19 are subjecting the same to a breaking and a scraping action, such as to remove from the stalks all ofthe woody outer substance but without breaking the liber.` The sharpedges of thevvbeaters will act to sera-pe the stalks and being pivoted and subject to swinging by .virtue of f y.by simply withdrawing the set screws 16 neeaevi beater plate 24 and will in addition to scraping the stalks, also break the same. The material thus broken is subsequently scraped l v from the stalks. The wood pulp is thus removed leaving the fiber entirely clean` The deoortic-atedmaterial then drops upon the belt 28 where it is carried to an appropriate destination forl further treatment.

The construction ofthe beater cylinder permits the rapid removal of the beater element and separating` the cylinder heads 12 and 13. In this way thebeaters may be rapidly eX- f changed. F or instance at times it is preferable to use the type of beater, shown in Figure 7. The Scrapers land beaters are loose, andtherefore vnot apt to become clogged or jammed by the material and by virtue of the y Vmovement ofthese beater bars by centrifugal j force theywill clear themselves of any cling- Y ing material. Y The' open vconstruction of the beater drum also, eliminates 1n a large measure lan` currents which have had a tendency with prior constructions to create a tendency of thematerial to accumulate around the ro'llers and beater.

The shaft 9 may, as shown invFigure tibet mounted in a slidable bearing block 65l to which is attached the screw spindle 66 having threaded engagement through the lugsl 68 on the frame of the machine. The spindle is revolved by means ofthe hand' wheel 67, so thatthe heater may be moved toward or from the count-er beater or plate,` and thus vvary the distance between those two cooper- 7 lating members. g

It is obvious that. various changes andv modifications may be made in the-details of construction and design of the above specifi-Y cally described embodiment of this invention Vwithout departing from'the spirit thereof,

such changes and modificationsbeing restricted only by the scope of the following claims Y Y What is claimed is v 1. A decorticating machine comprising feed means, a breaker and scraping means breast plate.

comprising av backing plate, a 'cylinder mounted -for yrotation adjoining saldbackder, and scraper bars having offset eyes presenting al pointed scraping blade.

j 2. A decortic'ating,machme comprisingja backing plate, afdrum. mounted for rotation adjacent backing plate and `comprising sock- ,y etedspacedheads. rodshaving their ends rejmovably` mounted in ther sockets `in said v kkheads, sharpened cylinder `bars loosely hung Y on said rods, and means forl feeding the stall-:sto said cylinder and backing plate.

ing plate, rods formingjpart of saidv cylinn j mounted pivotally onfsaid rods,` saidfbars `l .having the lon-gitudinalfree edges thereof:

3.'`r A decorticatingmachine comprising a f1 pair of feed rolls, abeater cylinder, la breast G5 -platehaving an upper lip arrangedl immedi-i ately adjoining thezbight between the'feed rollers and adjacent the surface oftheflo'wer roller, the body portion of' said breast plate being curved to conform substantially tothe curvature of said beater rcylinder and arrangedin closeb'ut spaced relation to the cylinder, Vand a conveyor disposed with its receiving end below the lower Yend vof said 4.y A dccorticating machine'comprising'a feed table, a breaker cylinder comprising a shaft,` rotary heads onthe shaft, rods' coupling said heads and extending parallelfwith the aXis of the cylinder, beater bars-havingV heating sharpened edges at one side and 'olfset eyes atY the opposite side for pivotally engaging 'said rods, means for driving said cylinder, a pair of weighted smoothffeed rolls arranged rone above the other. with the bight therebetween close to said table k at one side and to said cylinder at the opposite side, said rolls C FELIornN imonorrn.'i"V 

